Death's Son (Even After Death)
by Pey119
Summary: Sequel to Death's Son (And All Its Perks). Nico wakes up living, but how long has it been? Who really helped Almaji save him? Solangelo (complete)
1. Prologue

_**Prologue:**_

The soft patter of rain, the little droplets of water.

Drip, drop, drip.

It was all Nico could focus on for some time. But then he started to think, started to think about how there was no rain in Anubis' land. So where had he been lying for so long?

Drip, drop, drip. The rain never seemed to end. His face started to fill with the meaningless drops of water.

He tried to move but couldn't, and on most days he gave up on breathing entirely. But he could hear his heart, thumping with each drop of rain.

Pitter, patter, plunk.

If he was dead, why was his heart still beating? What blood could it possibly be pumping?

He wanted to open his eyes to see the rain, to see the thunder clouds it would have brought. But he couldn't even feel his eyes.

Drip...drip...drip... The rain slowed down, but it had already drowned him.

When the last drop fell and the silence hit, Nico finally opened his eyes to see the earth's sun shining above him. The sun that would never be visible in any of the afterlives.


	2. Chapter 1

Laying on the forest floor, staring up at the sun that shone down through the trees. The birds chirped, everything was of the right dimensions, the smell of dirt filled his nostrils.

He was on Earth. And in the human side of things, at that.

"Will...I'm coming..." Nico blinked a couple times as he licked the dirt off his raw lips. He tried to sit up but found the plants had grown around and over him, stapling him to the earth beneath his back. A tree's roots had grown in the area between his legs, grass had grown in the dirt that seemed to cover him, flowers grew between his fingers. The tree whose roots bothered him seemed to be years old, but Nico knew he couldn't have been gone that long...right?

If it was Almaji that brought him back, why would it have taken so long?

"Will..." Nico coughed, water escaping his lips as if he was a plant himself. He could feel his body responding to the light, responding to the sun's rays.

"Plants...go away..." Nico wanted to rip the flowers out of the ground to stand up, wanted to destroy the roots keeping him in place. But something in his heart wouldn't let him.

"I need to sit up... I need to stand up..." Nico pleaded. "Please..." He didn't know who or what anymore, but he knew some divine power was watching him. "Please...let me sit up..."

His heart kept beating on, his eyes kept blinking, his chest rose and fell with each breath. Despite having been dead, he didn't look like he would return to that state anytime soon.

The plants didn't disappear but seemed to grow more heavily on him. Before he had died, he would have panicked, maybe have even imagined being drowned by those growing creatures. But now he could only lay there and watch, thankful for the comfort the plants brought him.

What had happened to him?

Nico was about to fall back asleep when he heard the sounds of people talking, not too far away. He could hear their vocal tones, hear the way they crashed through the underbrush as if it meant nothing to them. They kept getting close, kept getting louder. Before long, he could make out their conversation.

"Why did we have to change the boundaries again?" a boy spoke, sounding familiar yet different to Nico's newly working ears. "You called me all the way into Camp to change the boundaries?"

"Yes, I did." the girl retorted. "They've been to close since...since that incident, and I think it's time to widen them again. The new campers aren't learning anything. As a cabin leader, you're involved in the decision."

"I know, I know." the boy replied. "But why are we walking around the woods?"

"Grover said that something's up," she answered. "Said something is...up. That's all he could describe. He's looked around, but this forest is huge. So we're looking and talking."

The boy sighed, them almost too close to Nico now. But he felt at home where he was, at home swallowed up by the plants. (Before all this had happened, Nico would have called you insane if you'd say he felt like that. But times changed.)

"I'll have to stay, then, and watch the game." the boy thought to himself. "I was supposed to be babysitting Estelle this weekend..."

"Bring her here." the girl offered. "I'd love to see her."

"Yeah, I might." the voice was only feet away from Nico, now. "Do you even know where we are?"

"We'll be fine." the girl promised. "Why? Do you want to take a break or something?"

The boy laughed. "You know me well."

Nico could feel somebody sit by his feet, feel them lean on the plants he was covered with. Someone else sat by his waist, leaning into whoever sat by his feet.

There was silence before the boy spoke again, this time in a fit of laughter. "Why are we kissing in the middle of the woods again?"

"Percy," the girl huffed in annoyance before speaking again, but Nico didn't hear her. Percy...Percy...Percy...

Nico snapped his eyes open, seeing the treetops through a plant leaf that had covered his face. He moved his jaw a little before speaking, even though he knew he'd probably give the son of Posidian a heart attack. "Percy! Don't just sit there, get me out of here!"

"What the-?!" he could feel the two people shoot up from where they sat, feel their crazed shock fill the air. "Nico?!"

"It couldn't have been..." Nico recognized Annabeth's voice now, even though it had grown. "Percy, he's dead. He's been dead..."

"There!" Percy ran until he was kneeling beside Nico's face, leaning over him so their eyes met. Those sea-green eyes, full of life, full of the relief that washed through Nico's body. "Nico, Nico, I see you. It's going to be okay. We're going to get you out of there."

"Percy, it could be a trap. Are you sure that's him?" Annabeth kneeled beside Percy. "He's been dead, Percy. Why would he just show up buried in plants?"

"There wouldn't be a trap like that in Camp." Percy shot back. He moved before Annabeth's eyes came into Nico's vision, those gray eyes that all children of Athena had. "See, Annabeth? That's him. Those are his eyes."

Annabeth peered down at Nico, her eyes narrowed in confusion. "Speak again."

Nico coughed up some dirt before smiling, his voice hoarse. "You didn't change at all."

"Your eyes are different..." Annabeth backed away. "Percy, let's get him out. You've got Riptide?"

"No, no, don't cut them..." Nico wiggled his head between the roots. "Don't cut them."

"Then how do you expect us to get you out?" Annabeth asked. "There's no way."

"Demeter kid or something?" Nico asked hopefully. "Please?"

Annabeth glanced over at Percy, letting him run off to camp. "He's going, Nico... Your eyes are different, Nico."


	3. Chapter 2

At nineteen years old, Will still worked the Infirmary while studying for college. It helped him learn more hands-on and kept his mind where it needed to be, especially since Nico's...death, disappearance, whatever they called it. Whatever it was, nobody was waiting for Nico to come back.

He was gone, gone and had taken Will's heart with him. Most days, Will prayed to all the gods that Nico was somewhere better. Other days, he prayed that he was dead. That way, he'd at least know. His love was missing, missing and dead, somewhere far away.

It haunted him. Haunted just like the ghosts Nico could command.

"Will!" Percy Jackson ran into the Infirmary, his skin less tan than it used to be. The other campers joked that he was in retirement, but he was in turn just done with all the deaths that had been thrown at him. He was usually at his apartment with Annabeth or at his new job, but he stopped into camp every now and again to check up on everything. They had had some pretty rough times. "We've got a patient coming in. They're getting him out, now. I was told to prepare you."

Will looked up from counting the supplies, having been bored out of his mind all day. With Almaji at school and the campers playing it safe, he had nothing to do all day but wait until Almaji got home.

"Who? Where are they getting him out of?" Will started to get supplies together, bringing them to a cot. "Injuries?"

"They're...they're getting him out of...plants..." Percy laughed awkwardly. "I don't know how to explain it, honestly. And for who it is..."

"Well...?" Will looked up at him. "What?"

"It's Nico. Nico di Angelo."

* * *

Nico looked down at himself, looked down at the pale skin that was raw from the leaves. He wore black dress pants that were clean despite the piles of dirt, and a white button-down that was tinted a light green. His hands, pale as ever, revealed the green veins that pulsated beneath his skin. He looked...different, just as Annabeth said. He looked different than the son of Hades he knew himself to be.

"The plants ate you alive." Davy, son of Demeter, joked. "The chlorophyll seeped right into you."

"Perfect," Nico muttered. "Absolutely perfect."

"Davy, not helping." Annabeth hissed. She kneeled beside Nico, her hand moving to his forehead. "You don't have a fever, that's good."

"Please don't touch me." Nico pulled away. "I don't like to be touched."

"We'll get you to Will." Annabeth sighed. "Can you stand up?"

Nico looked up at her, looked at the girl that seemed to have aged years since he saw her last. With a quick nod, he rose to his feet in a manner that suggested just how long he had been dead. He stood tall but didn't stand straight or steady.

"That's it." Annabeth held her hands out, ready to catch him if needed. "Need help or can you walk?"

"I can walk on my own, Annabeth." Nico hissed. "You act like I've been laying there for years."

Annabeth looked at him for a minute in silence before looking to Davy, the only other one beside them. "Can you go tell Chiron what's going on? I'll get Nico to the infirmary."

Davy looked between her and Nico suspiciously before doing as he was told, leaving them alone in the darkness of the woods. Nico watched Annabeth with an amused expression, curious about what was happening but enjoying the confusion he laid out for others.

"Nico," Annabeth looked to him, her gray eyes calculating. "It's been...it's been four years since you died. _Four years_. Where have you been? You couldn't have...you couldn't have been laying here the whole time... Right? I mean...you saved me and Percy from Tartarus, you helped us win the war. I trust you. But...you seem oddly calm about all of this." She paused, took a deep breath. "We thought you were _dead_. Were you? Or were you playing with us?"

Nico was quiet, his thoughts running wild. _Four years_? He had been dead for four years...it only felt like days at most. He tried calling out for Anubis, tried thinking back to all that he had gone through. Anubis said it was Almaji that may bring him back. Then why had it taken so long?

 _Anubis?_ Nico called hopefully. Nothing stirred, nothing happened. He was as alone in his mind as he was the day he was born.

"Four years?" Nico finally asked, looking up to meet Annabeth's eyes. "It's really been four years?"

She nodded. "We need to get you checked. Then...you really need to explain, Nico."

He looked down at his weird clothes, at his weird veins. "I'll try."


	4. Chapter 3

Will sat on the infirmary bed, his legs shaking too much to hold him up. Nico...Nico di Angelo...Percy had found Nico, in the woods...

"I'm not ready." Will croaked, sweat dripping from his forehead. "I'm not ready, Percy. This can't be happening."

"It is." Percy sat beside him. "I can't believe it, either. But it's really him. He's...he's different, but it's him."

"Different?" Will looked to him. "What do you mean? How different?"

"You'll see," Percy promised. "Just...don't freak out too much. You don't want to freak him out. And he looked like he didn't know how much time has passed, so there's that. I can...I can go get Almaji for you, if you want to deal with this."

Will nodded in gratitude. "Yeah, yeah. Thank you, Percy... Nico's coming now?"

Percy nodded as he got up. "Annabeth's bringing him. He looked pretty okay. Just talk to him, okay? It'll be okay."

Will took a deep breath and wiped his hands on his shirt. Nico, Nico, Nico... It felt like a dream come true.

"I'm going to go get Almaji now." Percy let him know, despite the fact that Will seemed to be in his own head now. As he left, he could hear Will whispering Nico's name to himself in the silence of the infirmary.

"Will," Annabeth walked into the infirmary soon, breaking the son of Apollo out of his trance. "Did Percy...?"

"He told me." Will stood up, his legs threatening to give out on him. "Where is he? I need to see him."

Nico took a step into the infirmary after Annabeth had, looking shaky but otherwise fine. His clothes, odd from what Will remembered, were covered in dirt and leaves. Will immediately looked into Nico's eyes, looked into the once dark eyes and saw sparks of green. Sparks of green that had never been in those eyes before.

"Nico..." Will took a step closer, his footstep echoing across the room. "Nico, is it you...?"

Nico smiled at him but it didn't reach his eyes. He was different, even if he didn't want to admit it. "Will..."

Will ran to embrace his boyfriend and brought him into his arms, felt the warmth of the son of Hades inside his arms. Nico, Nico di Angelo, he was hugging Nico again...

"I missed you, Solace." Nico murmured, his head laying on the other boy's shoulder. "I missed you. But it's only felt like a week..."

"Four years." Will replied. "Four years without you, thinking you were dead. But Hazel said your soul wasn't with your father. I was scared."

"I'm sorry..." Nico looked down. "I didn't choose any of this. I saved Almaji, that I chose, but I didn't choose anything after that." Nico sat on the bed, Will sat beside him, they were silent. Eventually, Nico spoke again. "How's Almaji? Find out anything about his godly parent?"

Will shook his head. "Not a thing. But I'm just going with it at this point."

"Is he healthy and everything?" Nico asked. "Happy?"

Will shrugged. "He misses you. That battle...really scarred him...but he'll be okay. Percy's picking him up from school, now."

"School..." Nico laughed. "Wow, things really have changed."

Will watched him, watched his love. "Yeah, you really did."

* * *

Will checked Nico over and from what he saw, the son of Hades had no serious injuries. No bones out of place, no extensive bleeding. Will noted to himself to do blood work because of the abnormally green veins but didn't touch them for the time being, not wanting to bother Nico too much. Just after ten minutes, the younger boy was sick and tired of being checked out.

"Does anything hurt?" Will asked, giving up on physically checking the boy. "Anything not feel normal?"

Nico rolled his odd eyes, those odd orbs of his soul. "Of course I feel different, Will. Look at these veins!" He held his hands up, showed off his new colors. "I hate the color green, you know."

"We'll do blood tests," Will promised. "That'll help us see if any diety had a part in...in..."

"My resurrection?" Nico finished. "Yeah, that'd be helpful. You can tell them to take this chlor...chlor...whatever Davy called it. They can take it all back."

"That was a joke. That's not what it actually is." Will sighed but held a soft smile. "I love you, Nico."

Nico smiled back at him. "I love you, too. Now, finish this checkup so we can go lay down."

Will got the clipboard he kept by him, looked over everything he needed to make sure the basics were covered. "Take your shirt off."

Nico blushed, his pale cheeks turning dark red. His hair had grown longer and his clothes were offputting, but he mostly looked like the Nico Will had remembered. The only thing that really bothered Will were Nico's eyes, that spark of green in those dark orbs. It wasn't the eyes he knew, wasn't the eyes he loved to look into. It wasn't Nico's eyes.

"It's part of the checkup." Will defended. "Just do it, Nico. Before Almaji comes back."

Nico huffed in annoyance but began to unbutton his shirt, his slender fingers twisting with the motions. As he did, Will eyed Nico's chest with a fear of what he would see, what he would see on the skin that had been torn apart four years ago.

What he saw was worse than what he expected.

As Nico let the shirt slide off his skinny frame, Will saw the marks left from Nico's gruesome death. His chest's skin was a dark purple where Nico's heart lay underneath and looked frayed and torn. Ragged, jagged, and coarse. In the shape of what stabbed him, in an unfriendly reminder of what had happened, of how he had died. Where his skin turned normal, however, was also changed from the experience. Green veins spread over his body just as they did in his hands, filling the entire layout of veins in his body. They ended up going into the dark purple of his heart, disappearing beneath the flesh.

"Damn," Nico looked down at himself, looked down at his so changed body. "What's with the green?"

"You ask about the green and don't look disappointed in the purple..." Will sighed. "It's all I could expect."

Nico chuckled lightly, a thin smile on his thin face. "I'm glad I'm back."

Will sat next to him, hugged him close. He smelled Nico's hair, smelled the dirt, smelled the earth that Nico had always smelled like before. He had his boyfriend in his arms, his boyfriend that had died four years prior. "I am, too."


	5. Chapter 4

_**A.N: All of your reviews and comments are more than I could ever ask for. Support, even from ones I don't really know, can go a long way. I'm so thankful for each of you and encourage you to continue the support and hope for anyone that needs it. From guests, UnleashTheKnightMare, and others. I couldn't wish for anything better. I'll continue to update when I can but chapters may be shorter. My mom doesn't have a husband to help her so all of that will be on me, but we'll see how things go. With school finishing, I might have more time. Again, I thank all of you and wish you all the best.**_

They sent the blood tests off as Percy entered with Almaji. It was a happy reunion, an upbeat one. The boy didn't let go of Nico for hours after. He cried, cried too much, but they were tears of joy. Finally.

When the blood tests came back, the happiness died out of Will. He stared at the paper, stared until his eyes were raw. He couldn't be reading that...no...it was impossible...

"What does it say?" Nico asked, having been helping Almaji with his homework. It was almost dinner time, them still in the infirmary. "You look scared."

Will walked over to him, his footsteps heavy. "Um...remember the joke you made, about the chlorophyll in your veins?...you were right."

Nico frowned in confusion. "I'm a plant?"

Will shook his head and let out a soft sigh. "It isn't a joke. I don't know what to do about it and I don't know why it isn't affecting you."

"That's a good thing, then." Nico shrugged. "If it isn't hurting me, then just leave it be."

"It isn't natural, Nico." Will explained. "Something happened to bring you back. Something weird. Can you think of any god or goddess that would help you?"

Nico laughed. "Really? Only Anubis and my father. They aren't one for plants."

"We're missing something..." Will ran a hand through his hair. "I'll have to talk to Annabeth. She and Percy are staying for the weekend, at least."

"I still can't believe that they have an apartment together." Nico mused. "They're really sticking together for life, huh?"

Will pulled Nico to his feet. "Come on, dinner. You aren't getting away without eating. We can talk to Annabeth there."

Nico smirked. "Doctor's orders?"

Will huffed. "Of course."

* * *

They ate dinner at the Hades table, screwing the rules that nobody seemed to bother with anymore. After going through so much, people wanted to be with their friends while they could, in case they died next week. Chiron understood. He didn't say they were allowed to, but nobody was ever redirected back to their original tables.

The years Nico had been dead, nobody dared step near the Hades table. Weeds had grown around its legs and the old wood needed a good cleaning. Nico sat between Will and Almaji while Annabeth and Percy sat in front of them.

"How do you feel, though?" Annabeth asked. "I mean...it might not be dangerous if a diety put it there."

"Are we sure this isn't a diety that hates me?" Nico asked, caused Almaji to start laughing. The boy looked to be around ten, having had a large growth spurt since Nico was gone. His hair was to his shoulders, his eyes were alight with life. He looked like any other preteen boy.

"I'll be looking through the books tonight and I'll have Reyna send over any if they have anything to do with this." Annabeth drummed her fingers against the table. "Maybe I'll find something."

Nico frowned after a minute of silence. "Wait a minute."

"What? Do you remember something else?" Annabeth asked.

Nico shook his head. "I just thought. How'd you get the borders back up? What happened? Who took the fleece?"

"Oh," Annabeth ran a hand through her hair. "Some Egyptian god or something. We got some help from your...or Anubis'...friends."

"Carter and Sadie?"

She nodded. "Those are the ones."

"Damn..." Nico sighed. "I missed something big, didn't I?"

"You could call it that." Will shrugged. "I hated staying at Camp Jupiter. They're so...uptight."

"And you couldn't be their main doctor?" Nico teased. "Oh, it must have been so horrible."

"Hey, you were the one just chilling with the plants." Will shot back.

"Chilling with the plants? I was dead!" Nico huffed. "And I didn't even get to go to my father! I went to stupid Anubis and now he's not in my head anymore and I can't..." Nico's smile faltered as reality smacked him in the face. "I can't talk to Anubis anymore...for good..."

Will wrapped an arm around Nico's trembling shoulders. "Hey, it'll be okay. We'll figure it out."

"I'll miss him," Nico buried his face in Will's shoulder.

"I know," Will stroked that dark hair. "But we'll figure it out. We always do."


	6. Chapter 5

Nico watched his mom sing to him and Bianca, watched her sing him to sleep in his dreams. In this new life, this seemed to be the only dream he'd ever have. His mother, his sister, happy as ever. Nightmares didn't come anymore.

In the mornings, he'd wake up with warmth flowing through his body, the body that had been cold for far too long. He'd wake up next to Will in that bottom bunk, wake up to sunlight streaming through the open window.

When Will took Almaji to school, Nico took the opportunity to walk the woods on his own. He could feel the plants and their life force, feel Pan's power still kicking. Persephone's flowers grew, Demeter's crops ripened. Despite the lousiness of the gods, there was some good that came from them.

The plants leaned toward him as he walked, roots tried growing over his feet if he stayed still too long. The air he breathed in was nice compared to Tartarus, the air kept him living despite all the blood having been emptied from him four years before. That terrible moment, the moment he died, would forever haunt him. He tried to remember how he could have lived again, but everything was fuzzy. He remembered the rain, remembered the plants around him. He remembered pretty eyes and a feeling of warmth, remembered Almaji's touch.

But not everything he remembered involved Almaji. Those hadn't been Almaji's eyes, hadn't been his feeling of warmth. It was a warmth Nico remembered but couldn't place, a warmth that felt like a lifetime ago.

The shadows still bent to his will, but he was nowhere near as powerful as he had been when he had Anubis with him. With Anubis, he had been unstoppable. Or so he had thought. But on that day, the day he had died, something that shouldn't have taken any effort swept the will right out of his bones. He had tried to attack and had gotten knocked out, something that happened if he had used too much power. But he hadn't. He had simply done something he could have done moments before. So what had changed?

Whatever it was, whatever messed with his powers, it was the reason he had died.

The forest was full of birds and animals, of scattered noises that filled the peaceful air with a halycon sense. Nymphs murmured amongst themselves, deer crept through the fallen trees, the sun poked through the holes in the canopy. All around Nico, he watched nature do its thing, the thing it had been doing for hundreds and hundreds of thousands of years.

The plants spoke to him, the flowers rustled away his fear. Except for when Will held him, Nico found the first place he was truly peaceful. He would never have imagined the woods, but his life was one roller coaster to the next.

 _Nico..._ His name was whispered in the breeze. _Nico..._

"Who's there?" Nico pulled his sword from his belt and held it up defensively but saw no dangers in sight. "Who said that?!"

The woods rustled and the birds chirped. How could such a peaceful place have been home to his death? And such a gruesome one at that?

After hours spent walking the trees, Nico finally headed back to the cabin area of camp. The sun was midway in the sky and the summer heat was thick in the air. With new and old campers alike, they were all buzzing for the game of Capture the Flag that night. With the borders broadened again and Percy Jackson there, it'd be a Friday night worth remembering.

"Nico!" As soon as he stepped foot out of the woods, Will Solace was in his face. "Where were you?! I thought...I thought..." Before Nico could speak, Will's head was buried in his chest. "I was scared I had lost you again..."

"Oh..." Nico moved a hand to Will's hair and stroked the blond strands. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry, Will. I won't do that again."

"Thank you," Will stayed buried in him but seemed to calm down. "What were you even doing?"

"Honestly?" Nico shrugged. "Walking. It's peaceful out there."

"Nico, that was where you...you..."

"I know," Nico laid his head on Will's shoulder. "I don't know why. Something with the plants."

"Maybe you're one of them now." Will joked. "You look like it."

Nico cracked a smile. "Maybe I am."

The sun shone down around them, birds chirped and the smell of strawberries was in the air. They could hear kids laughing, hear swords against swords, hear the practice of thousands of demigods. It was Camp Half-Blood, they were there, they were okay. Everything was okay.

"Nico, Will," Percy jogged up to them, breaking them out of their moment. "Grover's coming over. He said...he said he sensed something weird about Nico."

"What kind of weird?" Will asked, finally letting Nico go.

"Um...a...weird...thing..." Percy looked down. "Maybe a, I don't know, blessing of some sort..."

Nico and Will looked at each other before looking back to Percy. Will snapped in front of Percy's face, causing the son of Poseidon to look up at them. "You mean he has a blessing? From a god?"

Percy smiled sheepishly. "Grover's coming over. He needs to make sure he's sensing the right thing."


	7. Chapter 6

"We are all mistaken sometimes; sometimes we do wrong things, things that have bad consequences. But it does not mean we are evil, or that we cannot be trusted ever afterward."-Alison Croggon

* * *

Grover met up with them right outside the forest, his orange Camp Half-Blood shirt bright in the summer sun. He looked around nervously before coming closer, giving a handshake to Percy and a hug to Annabeth before looking to Nico, his face serious. "I was right."

Annabeth's face fell. "Oh, gods..."

"What?" Nico clenched his fists. "Just tell me already."

"We should really talk inside." Annabeth glanced around them. "This isn't something for everyone to hear."

"We can talk _about_ it inside, but you're telling me now," Nico ordered. "Final decision."

Annabeth looked to Grover. "Keep your voice low. We'll move to the Poseidon cabin after this."

Grover nodded before moving closer to Nico, his voice somewhere between a whisper and a whimper. "It was your stepmother. The Flowery One."

* * *

"This doesn't make any sense." Nico paced in front of the bunk beds, his hands in his hair and his heart pounding in his ears. "It _doesn't make sense._ Why would she ever help me? And for what?"

"But isn't it a good thing?" Will asked. He glanced around nervously, it being his first time in the Poseidon cabin. "She helped you. That's good."

"She hates me!" Nico objected. "She hates my guts! There's no way she helped me just because she could! She wants something from me!"

"Stop yelling." Annabeth made sure the door was latched. "We don't want the whole camp hearing this."

"They'll find out regardless." Nico pulled at his button down. "Of course these clothes are from her. What more could I expect?"

"Maybe she did it for your father," Percy suggested. "Maybe she wanted something from him."

"My father has no idea what happened," Nico replied truthfully. "There's no way. If he knew what happened, if he knew I had gone to the Egyptian afterlife, all hell would break loose, literally. He'd find out about my soul being tied with Anubis'. Persephone had to have found out from someone but it wasn't from him. And she didn't tell him."

"Nico's right." Annabeth sat beside Percy but kept her clipboard on her lap, her pen in hand as she tried to think of anything else. "But...why? Why would Persephone help?"

Grover cleared his throat. "Um...names? Let's use the Flowery One, okay?"

"Right, names and powers." Percy sighed. "When can we ever just talk without gods listening in?"

"Ha, if only." Will smiled. "That'd be a good day, huh?"

"Guys, this isn't the time for wishful thinking." Nico cut in. "This is serious. What could she possibly want with me? I...I don't know... What if something big is coming up and she wants my allegiance?"

"I really doubt it's that..." Annabeth stood up and placed a hand on Nico's shoulder, stopping him from pacing. "Just calm down. We'll think this through one step at a time. But you can't panic. At the moment, everything is okay."

"I'm a fucking plant! That isn't o'fucking'k!"

"Language, Neeks." Will grabbed his boyfriend's hand as Annabeth hugged the son of Hades. Two people close to him, two people comforting him, two people more than he ever would have thought. "Listen to her. It's going to be okay. You're alive, you're healthy, you're back to me. You're home. That's what I've been praying for for the last four years."

Nico's eyes shut as he leaned into Annabeth, his grip on Will's hand tight but unafraid. Strength in numbers, strength in love. Friendships existed for a reason. As the birds chirped and the sun moved overhead, Nico felt safe between two friends that he called home.

"You don't have Anubis in you anymore," Annabeth started after a minute of silence. "You could go to the Underworld and just talk to her."

"Yeah, I guess..." Nico sighed. "I'll leave tonight when the shadows are strongest."

"Over my dead body!" Will broke in, rising to his feet in an instant. "You just came back to life! No shadow travel!"

"How else do you want me to get there?" Nico questioned, his arms crossed. "I hate going through the passageways."

"People hate things but they have to do them still." Will shot back. "Don't be spoiled."

"Using my powers isn't being spoiled," Nico grumbled. "It's being a demigod."

"A _spoiled_ demigod."

"William Solace, I swear if you don't-"

"Guys, guys," Annabeth let Nico go. "Stop bickering. Will, let him shadow travel but just go with him. He seems healthy enough."

Annoyance flickered across Will's face. "Annabeth..."

"I know I'm not the doctor, but I'm a child of Athena. He'll be fine." Annabeth sat beside Percy. "Nico, the only way you're shadow traveling is if Will goes with you."

Nico shrugged. "He'd follow even if I said no."

Will's face was red as he tried to think of an excuse to stop Nico. "Nico...Nico..."

"Will, it'll be fine." he rested his forehead against Will's. "Okay? I promise. It'll be fine."

Will pecked Nico's lips. "Fine. But you owe me."

Nico smiled, his lips still against Will's. "I always do."

"Hey, lovebirds." Percy pulled Nico off of Will. "Not on my bed."

"We weren't going to do anything." Nico scowled. "Gods, you're annoying."

"He's used to having a child around him." Annabeth kissed Percy's cheek. "Estelle isn't here to ruin."

Percy laughed. "Yeah, sorry."

Nico grabbed Will's hand. "Come on, let's go lay down. We'll leave tonight."

Will stood up. "Fine, fine. Let's go lay down."


	8. Chapter 7

The moon's rays shone down on them as Nico stepped out of the Hades cabin, followed by a certain blond medic. Will's bookbag bounced as he walked, the supplies inside rattling together in a heap of noise. Once they were in the dark of the wood, Nico turned to stare at him with eyes alight with fear. "You ready?"

Will's hair seemed to glow in the darkness. "To meet the Lord of the Dead? Kinda."

"You'll be fine." Nico smiled. "He's actually an...okay god. Not the worst."

"But he's still a god..." Will grabbed Nico's hands. "Okay, okay. I'm ready."

Nico kissed his cheek before letting the shadows overtake them, letting the shadows transport them to a place darker than the outside world and lighter than Tartarus. As the shadows died down and the light came back into view, Nico looked around to find himself in his old room in the palace of Hades.

"Ugghhh," Will flopped down onto the bed. "I hate shadow traveling."

"We've established that." Nico cracked his neck. "Let's get this over with."

As he turned to leave the room he stopped in his tracks when he saw Persephone standing in his doorway, her arms crossed and her hair in a bun. She looked stressed, an emotion he had never seen on the goddess, and seemed to be in a worse mood than usual.

"Nico di Angelo," she gestured to the hallway. "Come, let's go talk. We need to discuss something important."

Nico frowned. "I knew it. I knew you wanted something."

"Of course I did, young demigod. Your father wasn't helping me." a tired, forced smile. "So I needed someone else with the powers of my husband."

Nico glanced towards Will in an "I told you so" look before looking back to the goddess. "You brought me back to life, _four years ago_ , to do something for you? Why so long?"

"I didn't expect that sort of time frame, Nico. Stop being smart with me. This may be your father's palace but I'm a goddess and you are not." she breathed through her nose. "I wanted you here immediately, but since that boy touched you it had to go through his powers. A horrible task. It would have killed him if I hadn't lent him some strength and if I hadn't blessed you."

"If you hadn't turned me into a plant," Nico grumbled. "So, what do you want? What am I getting myself into?"

Persephone pursed her lips. "Didn't I invite you to come sit down so we can talk?"

Nico was about to retort when he saw her manner, saw the emotions he learned to read from having used to live with her. Sitting down wasn't for pleasantries. No, it was so her stressed body could take a break. "What...what happened, Persephone?"

Tears stained her face, small hands tried to wipe them away. "Oh, look what you've done. Got me crying in front of a stranger..." She looked down, away from Will. "Nico... I need you to get my daughter back. My...my demigod daughter. You father didn't want to help but...she's so scared, and hurt...she needs help..."

Nico's eyes narrowed. "Someone took her? How old is she?"

Persephone nodded. "She was two when she was taken. Now...she'll be turning six. I wanted your help immediately but she's had to sit there for four years..."

Will stood up. "She's hurt? I've got all my medical supplies. I'll go with Nico."

"They took her. I...I would have gotten her myself but she lived in Alaska. A land beyond the gods and controlled by the snow. There's no way." she looked to Nico. "But you, you have shadow travel. You can get her and bring her back for me. I don't usually just ask for favors...but please, Nico, I miss my little girl."

Nico gave her a rueful smile. "Don't worry. Whoever takes a little girl and hurts her, they're an enemy in my book. I'll be back for lunch tomorrow."

This time, Persephone gave him a thankful smile. "Thank you, Nico. Thank you."

* * *

"Okay, I'm ready." Nico walked out of the small bathroom to find Will sitting on the bed, covered from head to toe in too many winter accessories to count. Multiple hats, scarves thicker than the curtains, two thick coats that looked warmer than the sun, snow pants and boots. "You alive in there?"

"Shut up," Will mumbled, his smile hidden behind his scarf. "I don't do well in the cold. You know this."

Nico cracked a smile. "You look ridiculous."

Will struggled to stand up. "Just help me, will you? We need to get going if we're going to find this girl alive."

"Persephone said to wait a couple minutes." Nico sat beside him. "She's bringing a coat for the girl and stuff. To help her be comfortable until we bring her back."

"Bring her back...? Where? The Underworld?" Will asked. "That doesn't seem like a wonderful place to bring a child."

"I'll have you know, Will Solace, that she'll love it here." Persephone walked into the room with a small bookbag. "She'll be safe here. That's all she'll ask for, at this point, I'm sure. Do this for me and you'll have your boyfriend alive, forever. Please." She handed the bookbag to Nico. "There's a coat, mittens, and a scarf in there. Make sure she's warm. Oh, and her favorite stuffed animal. It'll help her calm down. Her name is Lillian but she likes to be called Lily."

Nico took the bookbag. "Course. I'll see you soon." He reached a hand towards Will. "Come on, you blond penguin. Time to go."

Will grabbed Nico's hand. "Okay, prince of darkness."


	9. Chapter 8

The money Persephone gave them covered a cheap hotel room and some early breakfast for the two of them. As they ate on the balcony, they watched the sun come up and could tell Apollo's asshole-ish glory wasn't at play. They were in the land beyond the gods, in the land that all demigods were doomed to go. Nothing good ever came out of a trip to Alaska.

"I've got the address she used to live at with her dad." Nico stared down at his plate. "But she's probably not there anymore. Where should we look?"

Will ate slowly, his thick coats keeping him from moving much. "I dunno... Let's just start there. There might be some clues or something. Persephone seemed pretty positive that you could get this done."

"She needed to. She was scared." Nico frowned at the memory. "I've never seen her or any other goddess like that before. She must really care about this kid."

"Wonder who she cheated on your dad with."

"Guess we'll find out." Nico stood up and stretched his aching limbs. "You ready?"

Will stuffed his mouth before nodding, setting his plate on the nearby table. He grabbed his bag before following Nico out of the hotel room, his hand gripping onto Nico's to make sure that the boy didn't leave his side. He kept close for warmth, kept close out of fear and love. Whatever the case, Nico didn't mind Will's clinging. It actually was pretty nice.

The house they finally got to as Lillian's old home was a small shack near the sea. A rope ladder brought them up to the front door, which looked to be falling off its hinges. Peeling walls, cracked windows, the looks of something beaten and worn. Nico knocked on the door with a sense that nobody would answer, but after a couple minutes, they could hear footsteps approaching them.

Nico gripped Will's hand as the door opened, and Will gripped his hand back. Pale skin against tan, green veins against regular, a clasp of love between them.

"Hello?" a teenager peeked out of the door, her hair long and her face sunken. She looked between Will and Nico, panic filling her blue eyes. "What do you want?"

Nico stepped forward, his boots making imprints in the snow. "My name's Nico di Angelo. I was sent to...to find someone that may be in trouble. I was told this was her old address. Do you by any chance know of anyone that used to live here?"

The girl stared at Nico for a minute more before opening the door. "You...you can come in...it's best not to have this discussion in public."

Nico understood and quickly entered the building but Will was more hesitant. He kept his eyes on the girl as he followed Nico, knowing very well that this girl could be a monster in disguise or could be the captor herself. It was just part of a demigod's life.

The little house was just as poor and rundown on the inside. One couch, no TV, candles and a fireplace lit. The girl that let them in led them to the fireplace and sat in front of it, her clothes hanging off her skinny frame. "I...I don't actually live here...but I probably have what you want to know. But I need to make sure you want it for the right reasons."

Nico glanced her over. "You don't live here? What's your name?"

The girl blushed in embarrassment, her hands moving to play with her bare toes. "Tamsin, sorry. I didn't remember to tell you. My name's Tamsin."

Nico nodded. "I'm Nico, as I said. The blonde glowstick is Will."

Will nodded in greeting. "Hello."

Tamsin waved a little before looked back down at her lap. "No, I don't live here...I... I don't live anywhere. When the girl and her father went missing, nobody else noticed. So I was gonna stay in here until they got back. It's warm."

Nico nodded in understanding. "That's okay. But do you know where they went? The girl's mother sent us. She's in trouble."

Tamsin's hands clenched each other as her anxiety seemed to roll off her in waves. "A man...not a good man...he took little Lillian...he took her when she was playing outside. I saw and followed him. I went and told her dad where he went. He went to get her back and he... I never saw him again."

"Can you tell me where you saw him go?" Nico asked. "That'd be helpful."

"The warehouse." Tamsin got up and grabbed the poker, starting to stir the fire. "The one on the edge of town. Looks like it's crumbling into the ocean."

"What did the man look like?"

"Brown hair, balding..." Tamsin stared into the fire. "Fat. I usually don't call people that but I couldn't respect this man less. Big hands. Real big hands..." She looked to Nico. "He barely wore clothes. Was really weird that way. Only had on pants."

Nico looked to Will. "You got all that?"

Will nodded as he got to his feet. "One middle-aged pedophile to catch. Let's go."

Nico grabbed Will's hand. "Thank you, Tamsin. I'll let you know when we get Lillian back." He smiled and shook her hand before leading Will out, his grip tight on the other's hand. "You ready to catch a crazy old man?"

"More ready than I ever have been." Will admitted, climbing down the ladder. He looked up at Nico, gave him that smile that he loved. "Let's go, Juliet."

Nico felt his cheeks darken as he scowled at Will. "I hate Romeo and Juliet. They were idiots."

Will waited until Nico was down the ladder before grabbing his hand again. "So are we."

Nico huffed but didn't disagree. "Guess so."


	10. Chapter 9

The warehouse at the edge of town was just as Tamsin had described. None of the locals seemed to even realize it was there, but a few would shake their heads at it as if it was a disgrace to their town. Whenever asked about it, they'd say it made all of them look bad before rushing off.

"Are you thinking more of a sick mortal or a monster?" Will asked as they got to the doors. "I don't have a weapon on me."

"I've got my sword if needed." Nico ran a finger over his skull ring. "Don't worry. This guy isn't going to escape justice." As his eyes sparked and his face set in a grim reminder of his intentions, Will could see how this boy was related to the Underworld. Hades himself had once said that nobody escaped justice, not even after death. And his son was there to carry that out.

Nico moved his hand to the door and with a small push, the door opened. They were at a back exit that opened up to a dust-covered room, which looked to have once been a break room. A table in the middle, lockers on either side. Another door led out into what Nico assumed to be the main room.

Will laid his bag down on the table before taking one of his coats off. Nico watched him in silence before opening the door when he knew Will was ready, the old metal creating an eerie screech throughout the building. As they walked into the large room, they closed the door behind them to find that the lock had been moved upward, moved so that nobody beneath five feet could open the door.

"That's his way of keeping her in." Nico flicked the lock before looking over the room. No windows, made of metal, old machines left abandoned and broken. A catwalk bordered the area and then ran overhead, created a cross over the ground floor where guards had once watched over the workers. Now, it looked too unstable to walk on.

"Where should we look?" Will whispered. "You think he would have heard us come in, wouldn't you?"

Nico glanced around the room, frowned when he felt only one soul in the building. Small, trembling, faded. "He's not here. Only she is. See if you can find a light switch." He walked further into the room and looked around, trying to find where he felt her soul. "Lillian? My name's Nico. I came to save you."

Will's hand felt around the wall for some ten minutes before he found the large panel of light switches. He turned all of them on and illuminated the room before following Nico, their boots echoing throughout the room. With the lights on, he finally spotted another door. "Nico, try that door."

Nico looked at the door before jogging over to it, sighing at the lock. This time it was higher than he could reach, near the very top of the heavy door. "Will, will you do the honors?"

Will smirked at Nico before unlocking the door. He pushed it open before stepping back, letting Nico through first. In the dark room, they could hear small footsteps run off. Will flipped the light switch on to reveal a small room, empty besides a worn mattress and articles of clothing.

"Hey, Lillian..." Nico's voice was soft as he stepped further into the room. His eyes were on the little girl in the corner, on the girl that looked to be skin and bones beneath the small shirt she wore, which was her only article of clothing. "My name is Nico. Your mom sent me and Will to come get you. We brought a coat for you." He looked to Will. "Go get the coat?"

Will ran from the room, leaving Nico alone. He knelt down and reached for the girl. "It's okay, Lillian. It's okay. I'm a good guy. I'm your mom's stepson."

The small girl was pressed against the furthest wall out of complete fear. She stared at Nico in silence before looking at his fingerless gloves, her small face twisting into curiosity. She took a couple steps closer to Nico and before he knew it, she was sitting in front of him with her knees to her chest and her arms wrapped around herself. "You know momma?"

"Yeah, I do. She sent me here to save you. She said a bad man took you." Nico explained. "I came to make sure that man doesn't hurt anyone ever again."

She looked up at him, looked in his eyes before pointing at his hands. "Can I have one of those?"

"Hm?" he took the gloves off. "Yeah, sure. Let's get them on you." He put them on her small hands as Will's footsteps came back. "And that other boy is getting you a nice warm coat."

"A coat...what's that?" Lillian looked down at her hands in awe. "It's warm?"

Nico nodded. "Course."

"Here, Nico." Will came back in and handed the coat to him. "I'll keep an eye out for anyone while you get that on her."

"Thanks," Nico took the coat and helped Lillian put it on. "Are you hurt anywhere? We can fix you up."

"I'm okay." Lillian closed her eyes as she buried herself in the coat. Persephone had made it for the average six-year-old, but it swallowed Lillian and her skinny frame.

A door slamming caused a mix reaction from the three. Lillian ran back to her corner and curled up within the coat, Nico stood up and got his sword out, and Will stood in front of Lillian as a human shield. Nico nodded once to him before walking out of the small room, entering the main workroom to find a middle-aged man coming towards them.

The man stopped short when he saw Nico, a scowl forming on his swollen lips. "Who are you?"

"I could ask you the same." Nico rested the sword on his shoulder as if it was a baseball bat. "Are you the man that took Lillian? What have you done to her, you bastard? She looks like a poor skeleton."

"You call me the bastard?" the man brought a gun from his pocket and made sure Nico saw it. "You come in here, probably looking for a place to do drugs, and you just take my girl? I'll have to kill you for that."

"Your girl? You don't own her." Nico leveled the sword with the man's heart. "Nobody owns her. And for your information, I didn't come to do drugs. I came to get my step sister and bring her home."

"And I came to kill you," Nico added after a minute of thought. "Yeah, that seems about right. I knew I couldn't leave without doing so. I came to kill you."


	11. Chapter 10

The bastard's laugh echoed through the building. Will kept himself in front of Lillian, kept himself ready to defend her if needed. He knew a mere mortal wouldn't be able to get passed Nico, but he still had that fear that this mortal wasn't normal. There was something going on here that neither of them had been prepared for.

"Lillian, it's going to be okay." Will's voice was soft and melodious. "We're here to protect you... Have you ever heard of gods, Lillian?"

"Yeah...I think so..." she spoke as if she had no other choice. "Why?"

"I'm going to tell you why Nico and I are here to help you." Will smiled. "You'll feel super safe with us, I promise. So, my dad is..."

* * *

Nico watched the man's finger on that trigger, reminded himself that Anubis wasn't there and no god could help him in Alaska. That bullet could do some serious damage if shot in the right spot. As he kept his sword up and his eyes open, Nico watched this man as if he was one of the fiercest monsters. "Why did you take Lillian? What have you done to her?"

The bastard laughed and the air rippled around him. For a split second Nico could see his form change, but a moment later and he was still the same human bastard. "You're messing with the wrong one, little demigod."

Nico's eyes widened and his senses kicked on full alert. He kept his sword up, took a step forward, looked this man over. "Who are you?"

"Gods giving blessings to those who are least unworthy..." he brought the gun up, leveled it with Nico's head. "Even if I'm a mortal, I've been blessed by a god that told me to keep that girl until he said otherwise. I'm not risking my power getting taken away. Leave or I'll kill you."

"What god?" Nico questioned. "What god was it?"

"I'll give you three seconds to leave. Three, two..."

"Tell me what god, you asshole!"

The bullet broke free from the gun and shot through Nico's arm, taking blood and insides with it before embedding itself into the pillar behind him. With a hiss of pain and the sound of Lillian's yelp of terror, Nico brought his sword up and knew exactly what he had to do.

One more death to labor his soul down.

* * *

The gunshot made Will jump. He hated to admit it, but he wasn't expecting it in the least. Nico never carried a gun, so that gunshot meant one thing. The fight had started.

"Lillian," Will turned to the girl and brought her in his arms, picking her up off of the floor. "Stay with me. Stay close to me."

More bullets went off, the sound of something heavy hitting the floor. Will closed his eyes at thought of what could have happened. As footsteps came closer to their door, Will stepped back against the wall. He wouldn't die here, he couldn't die here. He wouldn't die here.

"Will." Nico's voice broke him out of his inner terror. Opening his eyes, he saw Nico standing in the doorway with a gun in one hand and his sword in the other. "Come on, get a move on."

"Nico!" Will rushed to meet him. "What happened? Are you hurt? Where did-"

"He's dead." Nico wiped a splatter of blood off of his face. "The idiot thought he was amazing because he had a god's blessing. Tripped over his own feet. I got the gun, shot him good. He's dead."

"Oh..." Will kept Lillian close, felt the girl start to cry into him. "He was a mortal, though?"

Nico shrugged. "Seems so. But he knew I was a demigod. That was strange. We can talk more about it when we get this little girl back to her mother."

"Wait." Will frowned. "What about her father? Remember, he was taken, too?"

Nico looked to Lillian and gently touched the girl's back. "Lily? Do you know where your dad is?"

She looked up at him with tears staining her dirty face. "The bad man killed him."

"Okay, okay." Nico grabbed Will's arm. "Let's get back to the Underworld, Will. This girl needs some emotional recovery. Her mom can help her."

Will nodded his approval, refusing to let the girl go as he watched Nico shadow travel them away. Nico... Something had happened that Nico wasn't telling him.


	12. Chapter 11

The gratitude they got from Persephone was something Nico had never expected to come from his stepmother's lips. Joy, thanks, promises of making it up to him. The scene was watched by Hades, who sat on his throne with a bored expression but a calm attitude about the whole situation. Lillian herself clung to her mother's leg and watched with a smile on her face, her dark baby hairs curled around her small ears.

When it was finally over and Nico escaped back to his room with Will, the two collapsed on the bed as if they hadn't slept in years. No anxiety, no worries, no bad guy to fight. Just a warm bed to sleep in and a lover to sleep by.

The Underworld didn't have a sun but Will still woke at six in the morning, when the sun would just be peeking over Half-Blood Hill. Nico's room was dark and ominous, but it was cozy in the back parts of the castle. Comfortable furniture, loads of pillows and blankets, a dresser full of clothes that Will borrowed after taking a short shower. They smelled like Nico and were warm, but he had hoped Nico would have owned some kind of color. But every article of clothing was black, including the Camp Half-Blood shirt that he had somehow dyed to fit his taste.

"Hey, Will..." Nico's tired voice caused a smile to break his mouth open. "Can we talk?"

"Sure, sleeping beauty." Will sat next to Nico. "You need more sun in this place, I swear." His smile turned fake as he tried to decide if he really wanted to hear what Nico was going to say. "You need to get some lights or something."

"Will." Nico sat up before gently touching his fingers to Will's chin, using them to move Will's head to face his own. He stared into those blue eyes, leaned his forehead against Will's tan one. "I...I killed that man..."

"It wasn't unexpected." Will grabbed Nico's hand. "And you feel bad. That means you-"

"I don't feel bad. That's the point." Nico bit into his tongue but somehow kept his eyes level with Will's. "That's the point. I'm a murderer. I killed him and I had fun doing it, and I still don't feel bad. I...I laughed while doing it, Will. I laughed. And I heard once that when you have a problem the first step to getting better is admitting it to the world. So I'm admitting it to you. Because I want to get better."

"Nico, Nico." Will kissed his forehead before moving his hand to the pale boy's cheek. "We've gone through this before. It's okay. You're scared of yourself just as you used to be scared of your powers. But it's okay. We'll get through it, okay?"

They sat in silence for some time, Will rubbing Nico's cheek and kissing his forehead until Nico finally got the courage to speak again. With his words, tears also poured out. "You don't hate me? I'm evil, Will. People will call me evil. I'm a cold-blooded killer."

"You're a teenage boy that's confused and who has been put into too many rough situations." Will corrected. "Not a coldblooded killer. Stop beating yourself up. We're going to work on it, okay? We're going to keep working on it."

Nico relaxed into him and tried to believe his words, despite the morals that were clashing together inside his mind. A killer here, an avenger here. A simple work of justice or a murder in the dark of the shadows? He couldn't decide, and nobody could decide for him. It was his choice, his decision, his life he needed to fix.

It was in the sun at Camp Half-Blood the following day when he turned to look at Will, felt his chest lighten with his words. "I'm going to get better. I'm a murderer, but I'm going to get better."

"You're going to get better." Will agreed, the sun kissing his skin. He was everything Nico had ever wanted, he held the key to the life that seemed perfect for the two of them. Nothing held them back now, nothing sat in their way. Even the Fates smiled at the end of their story, or at least where the pages stopped being written.


	13. Books

**Book One: Death's Son (And All Its Perks)-complete**

 **Book Two: Death's Son (Even After Death)-complete**

 **Book Three: Death's Son (And All Its Jobs)-complete**

 **Book Four: Death's Son (And All Its Memories)-in progress**


End file.
